The kingdom of New Spain started off a division of the Spanish colonial empire called the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Like other parts of the Spanish possessions in South America a series of revolutions took place against the colonial power. In 1823 King Ferdinand of Spain was overthrown by his brother Don Carlos and went into exile on the island of Cuba which had remained loyal to him. The remaining royalist forces in New Granada declared their loyalty to Ferdinand and over a matter of time they defeated the revolutionaries and founded what is now known as the Kingdom of New Grenada. The current monarch is a descendant of Ferdinand's eldest daughter Isabella

Contents

History

Monarchy

In the early days of the kingdom the monarch had considerable power and could dismiss governments and declare war on a whim. However New Spain was transformed into a constiutional monarchy in 1881 after an armed insurrection that had lasted for 10 years after the assassination of Prime Minister Manuel Pinto. Since then the monarch has held no political power. The New Granadan monarchy operates under a system of absolute primogeniture, in other words the eldest child of the monarch becomes heir irrespective of gender. Aside from that the only restriction on succeeding to the throne is that the heir must be a Roman Catholic and married to one. The only time this altered the succession was when Princess Christina the niece and heir of Ferdinand VIII married a British businessman who was a member of the Church of England. As a result of this Christina's brother Adalbert took her place as heir. The current monarch is Maria II, a great-great grandaughter of Isabella

List of monarchs

Name

Lifespan

Start of reign

End of reign

Notes

House

Ferdinand VII

Son of Carlos IV of Spain

Borbon

Isabella II

Daughter of Ferdinand VII

Borbon

Ferdinand VIII

Son of Isabella II

Borbon-Wittelsbach

Adalbert

Nephew of Ferdinand VIII

Borbon-Wittelsbach

Isabella III

Daughter of Adalbert

Borbon-Wittelsbach

Maria

Daughter of Isabella III

Borbon-Wittelsbach

Maria's heir is her son Manuel Carlos, Prince of Cuba

Line of Succession

1 Crown Prince Manuel Carlos, Prince of Cuba (b. 1970)

2 Infante Jaime (b. 2001)

3 Infante Rodrigo (b.2004)

4 Infanta Elena (b. 2009)

5 Infante Felipe, Duque de Bogota (b. !975)

6 Infanta Margarita (b. 2007)

7 Infanta Luisa (b.2007)

8 Infanta Sofia, Duquesa de Maracaibo (b. 1978)

9 Infante Jose (b. 20009)

10 Infante Alfonso, Conde de Barcelona (b.1947)

Politics

Government

The Cortes or parliament of New Grenada is divided into a lower house called the Congress of Deputies and an upper House called the Senate. The Congress consists of 500 Deputies while the Senate has 140 members, two from each province.

List of Prime Ministers

The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in the Congress of Deputies. If no party holds a majority then the leader of the largest party is invited to attempt to garner support from a majority of deputies. Until 1948 a Prime Minister was allowed to serve an unlimited number of 5 year long terms of office. In that year the New Granadan constitution was altered so a Prime Minister could only serve a total of 3 terms

Prime Minister

Took office

Left Office

Party

Rafael Bernado Martinez

10th December 1820

12th December 1830

Conservative

Francisco Azara

12th December 1830

14th December 1845

Conservative

Salvador Morillo, 2nd Count of Cartegena

14th December 1845

8th December 1850

Conservative

Vincente Morales

8th December 1850

9th December 1860

Liberal

Ferdinand Cordova

9th December 1860

10th December 1865

Liberal

Manuel Pinto

10th December 1865

6th June 1871 (assassinated)

Conservative

Rodrigo Hernandez

6th June 1871

13th December 1885

Conservative (1871-1880), Nacional (1880-1885)

Eduardo Arenas

13th December 1885

Nacional

Political Parties

Parties representated in the Cortes

National Party (Partido Nacional de la Nueva Granada)

Liberal Party (Partido Liberal)

Democratic Christian Party (Partido Democrata Christiano)

Progressive Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Progresista)

Communist Party (Partido Communista)

Green Alternative (Alternativa Verde)

Regional and minor parties

Elections

Subdivisions

The Kingdom is divided into 70 provincias (provinces) which are further divided into 400 municipios (municipalities). The provincias and municipios all have elected administrations and leaders, gobernadores (governors) for the provincias and alcades (mayors) for the municipios. For these purposes, Havana the capital city is considered to be a province with the same rights as the others